Criminal DeSalvo was honored for his work in population control

Tom Moore submitted legislation as April Fool’s joke to pass a resolution honoring the Criminal DeSalvo for his work in population control which was passed.

Albert DeSalvo was a criminal in Boston, Massachusetts, who confessed to being the “Boston Strangler”, the murderer of thirteen women in the Boston area. DeSalvo was not imprisoned for these murders, however, but for a series of rapes. His murder confession has been disputed and debate continues as to which crimes DeSalvo had actually committed.

In 1971, the Texas legislature unanimously passed a resolution honoring Albert DeSalvo for his work in “population control”—after the vote, Waco Representative Tom Moore, Jr. admitted that he had submitted the legislation as an April Fool’s Day joke against his colleagues—his declared intent was to prove that they pass legislation with no due diligence given to researching the issues beforehand. Having made his point, he withdrew the resolution.